Yannick and Robin Eckmann add a fresh coat of green

Danny Hiller & Zack Gould prep the bus for painting

CLIF BAR kids' clinic at Louisville USGP

Summerhill 20th in second World Cup

On Sunday in Tabor, Czech Republic, TEAM CLIF BAR's Danny Summerhill finished a respectable 20th place after chasing hard all day to make up ground after two early pile-ups put him way back.

Danny's race report:

"Bjorn [Selander] got a really good start and I followed probably top 15 first corner then going through it someone crashed right in front of me sending me back a few places - then 300 meters later I got caught behind someone else who had crashed which put me almost last, so at that point I was pretty scared, and knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't step it up! (haha)...so I slowly started picking off riders and was able to get in a group of 2 czech riders and we we're coming up to what was basically the second pretty big group with Sinkeldom and Adams and I dropped my chain. Fast forwarding a few laps I finally caught the really big group by myself with 2 to go... And even though I know that I proved to have a lot of power to make it from almost last to top 20 I am still quite mad in general that I wasted sooooo much energy just making it up to that group because I feel like this course suited the 3 of us soo much more than most other people as it was very dry and reminded us a lot of a home race!!!"

Other then that I am working on not getting down on my self because I know this trip is for learning and january is for kicking ass but it is still a pain knowing I could have, from what I feel right now done a lot better!!!

USGP #1 & 2, Louisville, KY

TEAM CLIF BAR's Troy Wells and Brady Kappius put the team on the national radar this past weekend in Louisville, KY, at the first stop in the Crank Brothers' USGP of Cyclo-Cross Series.

On Saturday, Troy had perhaps his finest race as a Pro, finishing 4th, and Brady posted a 3rd place in the Under-23 competition (19th overall).

Sunday saw Troy go for broke driving the lead group early in the race, but he eventually faded to a 9th place finish. Brady stepped it up a notch and grabbed 2nd in the Under-23 field, and took over the USGP Leader's Jersey. CLIF BAR riders have now held the USGP Leader's Jersey every year since 2004.

Boulder Reservoir

On sunday was one of my favorite races the Boulder Reservoir. I started of in the 3rd row, after the start i was like 15 or so. I moved up slowly till the long sand pit were you had to run through. After that i was 10th place about and than i got into a group where we were fighting for 7th place. After i while people went out front and i dropped back slowly. I was fighting so hard to stay in the group on the long straight away i got dropped and when it got more technically i got closer again like at the sand pit and at the corners. At one point i never caught back up and i got slower and slower. I was fighting now for 12 place I tried my hardest for the last 2 laps I saw one guy coming from the back closer and closer. I kept on hammering but the other guy was just hammering it more. In the last 1.5 k to that guys past me. I didn't even have a chance to try to stick with him because he was just flying by me. So when i crossed the finish line like 15 seconds behind i was really tired. I got 13th again like the weekend before. I am really pleased with myself because I am still so young and i can ride with the pro's.

I just hope i can keep this up till nationals.

Ben Turner (He got everything under control) :-)

Race Results from the Clif Bar development Team

In the cat.3: Danny Hiller- Had a strong race but he flatted a few laps to go and dropped out.

In the Pro1,2: Andrew Barker-30th

Cody Cox-24th

Robin Eckmann-19th

Yannick Eckmann-13th

In the Juniors 13-14: Zane Godby got 1st place

NEVER give up!

This past weekend I had a break off from collegiate MTB so I headed over to Fort Collins Friday afternoon for two cross races. Saturday was at Xilinx, and Sunday was in Fort Collins. I was looking forward to get my cross fix in for the week.


I arrived to Saturdays course pretty early because I had some friends racing in the fours and threes. So i got to see the course and the lines people took before I raced. My race started very good, very fast. I was fifth going into the first corner and feeling really good. It was a long course so I knew that we would not be doing a lot of laps so I had to stay up front. Then on lap two my chain feel off during a barrier section. That cost me some time and a lot of places. I started getting into a good rhythm after that, but once i got rolling my chain feel off again, and lost some more time and more places. Just had some bad luck. Ended up 27th, not very happy with my result so I was ready for Sundays race to redeem myself.


Sunday was another long day. got there early once again to cheer on some of my friends. The course looked very fast and very bumpy. So our race started fast once again. I tried not blowing myself up too bad in the start so I was about mid pack into the first corner. Then a couple of more turns my chain fell off again.



I got passed by the whole field and lost some time. The next time through the pit I changed bikes. I didn't want my chain to fall off again so that's why I changed bikes. Then one of my friends said he fixed the chain guard and my bike was ready to go.So the next time through the pit I changed back to my normal bike. Loosing a lot of time from changing bikes and fixing my chain I had a lot of chasing to do to get back to the front. Then again my chain feel off. I fixed it but decided not to change bikes and hope for the best that the chain would not fall off again. I was so far back at this time that I was mentally not there for a few laps. Then I got rolling again once I started picking off people. On the last lap I caught 3rd-6th place and gave it my all to pass all of them. It was a slug fest until the finish. I kept passing 3rd place then someone would pass me. Then on the last barriers before the finished i surged into 3rd place and sprinted as hard as i could. I ended up 3rd on the day, not bad at all considering what happened. I gave it my all and threw up once i crossed the finish line. Now that's going all out. That is my best result so far in the pro field and I am hoping to improve on that. The moral of the story is never give up until the finish line.





I am in school for a couple more days then i am off to collegiate MTB nationals in North Carolina. Then once that is over I will be sole focused on Cross and can't wait until the Boulder Cup.

Photos by Mat Peters

Summerhill 15th in opening World Cup

Photo © 2008 Bart Hazen

TEAM CLIF BAR's Danny Summerhill kicked off the World Cup season in Kalmthout, Belgium with a solid 15th place finish in the U23 race.

Wondering what Andrew has been up to?

Hey there,
I hope that everybody is off to a good cross season already. I have been sitting out of the racing scene recently due to commitments with running cross country at my school, but as that season is coming to a close I figured I’d write a little update on what I’ve been up to and my plans for cross.

Although I’ve most likely lost a lot of bike fitness and missed out on an opportunity to go to Europe w/ the national team this fall, deciding to run cross country turned out to be excellent. I got a great break from bike racing to refresh my mind and an outlet in which to enjoy my senior year at high school a bit more. Although the season has been mostly fun, 5K’s and track workouts never fail to surprise me with the incredible pain involved and the ability to mentally suffer. In a way I think I have worked on expanding my pain threshold to be a better bike racer, while not riding much at all. Funny isn’t it? After our state championships meet next Saturday up in Ft. Collins I will be back on the bike and gearing up towards getting in decent shape for cross by nationals.

My aim for this cross season is to keep it fun, and work to being competitive for nationals. If all goes well, I would love the opportunity to go over to Europe for the first time and do the Holiday cross camp in Belgium.

On a more community-servicy note, a club at our school has been working to raise money to help a project that works to better water purification in Sudan. It is truly amazing how we take clean water for granted, and yet so much of the world still lives with primitive water supplies. Some other running buddies and I have been work’n the good ole lemonade stand after school to bring in the dough. So far we have raised a decent amount of cash while supplying the D’Evelyn Jr./Sr. High community with a tasty beverage. Also my brother and I have started to collect some canned food around the neighborhood for an organization that donates to homeless/struggling families.

See you at the races…soon,
Andrew

Kappius 2nd at Xilinx

On Saturday, TEAM CLIF BAR's Brady Kappius showed his improving form with an impressive 2nd place ride in the Open Men's race, dueling with Matt Pacocha and Colby Pearce throughout the race before succumbing to a fierce Pearce road sprint at the end. Kappius heads to Louisville, KY this weekend to join teammate Troy Wells at the first stop of the Crank Brothers US Gran Prix of Cyclo-Cross Series.